The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the Number One Bank in the UAE, won the ‘Best Corporate Bond Arranger Award’ at The Banker Middle East Product Awards 2013.

During 2012, NBAD arranged 20 deals totaling approximately US$16.3billion (AED 59.7billion), the highest among all regional banks and which represent 38% of total value of corporate issuances in the GCC. Moreover, NBAD catapulted to winning the award by getting the most votes from readers of CPI Financial magazines, which received a record number of votes.

Adam Broom, Chief Executive Officer of CPI Financial, said in an email: “I believe that any winner of this year’s event can be genuinely proud of this achievement. To be recognized by registered readers of CPI Financial portfolio of magazines and websites as a leader in your field is a true testimony to your efforts over the last year.”

Last year, NBAD led numerous groundbreaking transactions, which include the first-ever Tier-1 bank capital instrument publicly offered from the MENA region, by Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, the first-ever subordinated debt issuance by a non-Malaysian bank in Malaysia by NBAD Malaysia, the largest US$ denominated liability management transaction from the MENA region by Mubadala, the largest and only multi-currency corporate bond transaction from the MENA region in 2012, by International Petroleum Investment Company (“IPIC”) and the first US$ denominated public bond transaction by a quasi-sovereign financial institution from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, by Gulf International Bank.

Michael Tomalin, the Group Chief Executive of NBAD and Fawaz Abusneineh, the Head of Debt Capital Markets at NBAD received the award from Robin Amlot, the Managing Editor of Banker Middle East.

NBAD’s Debt Capital Markets team increased the number of deals lead arranged & executed by around five times, from 4 transactions in 2011, to around 20 transactions in 2012, and this included issuers from outside of UAE, namely from the GCC and Turkey.

“2012 was a stellar year for debt markets due to increased direct capital inflow as investors shifted to investment in GCC paper; I am proud that NBAD capitalized on the strong market sentiment and well positioned itself in the DCM arena ,” said Fawaz Abusneineh, the Head of Debt Capital Markets at NBAD. “The NBAD brand recognition and our team of experts, as well as NBAD’s profound relationships and extensive global reach, allowed us to successfully close groundbreaking transactions and deliver great results for our clients.”

In 2012, the GCC debt capital market marked a record year as issuance reached nearly US$42 billion (AED154 billion), up from US$27 billion in 2011. Investors’ appetite for GCC paper, the relatively low interest rates, and the robust investor liquidity helped the market achieve such record levels.

The development of the domestic bond market is critical to support the growth ambitions of the UAE and the region.

“UAE is the driving force in the development of the debt capital markets in the GCC and we intend to use NBAD’s resources to ensure that it is a central hub of capital markets for the region,” said Mr. Abusneineh.

NBAD has been ranked in the World’s 50 Safest Banks for five consecutive years since 2009.

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Background information

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the number one bank in the UAE, was incorporated in 1968, and is ranked as one of the top 50 safest banks in the world.More...

The National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), the number one bank in the UAE, was incorporated in 1968, and is ranked as one of the top 50 safest banks in the world.

NBAD has a network of more than 123 branches in the UAE in addition to cash offices that are spread out in remote locations to provide banking services to customers all over the UAE. The branch network is widened further with more than 550 ATMs through which customers perform a variety of transactions.